My question, which I've been asking people the past several days, is: Why did the Charlie Baker camp push out "evidence" that their candidate is leading?

Let's first put this out there: pretty much nobody seriously thinks that anybody is ahead by a comfortable margin in the Massachusetts governor's race.

Second: Every independent poll since Labor Day -- check that, since June -- has shown Deval Patrick leading with margins ranging from 1 percentage point (Globe/UNH) to 7, as in the Suffolk University poll that came out earlier this week.

Despite a barrage of tough stories questioning his role in strip-search incidents, state representative Jeff Perry holds a 16-point lead over former state treasurer Joe Malone in their GOP primary contest for US Congress, according to an internal poll released by Perry's campaign.

The poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies June 16-17 among Republican primary voters in the 10th district, where Democrat Bill Delahunt is not running for re-election, shows Perry taking 41 percent to Malone's 25 percent, with a small portion for other candidates and 30 percent undecided.